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JAPANESE TAIRV TUE~ SERIES, Jlk 11. 




GRIFFITH FARRAN & Co., LONDON ^ SYDNEY, 




THE HARE OF INABA. 




there were 
once eighty-one 
brothers, who were Princes 
in the land. They were all jealous 
of one another, each one wishing to 
be King, to rule over the others, 
and over the whole Kingdom. 
Besides this, each one wanted to 
marry the same Princess. She was 
the Princess of Yakami in Inaba. 
At last they made up their minds 



that they would go together to Ina. 
ba, and each one try to persuade the 
Princess to marry him. Although 
eighty of these brothers were jealous 
of one another, yet they all agreed 
m hating, and being unkind to the 
eighty-first, who was good and gen- 
tle, and did not like their rough, quar- 
relsome ways. When they set out 
upon their journey, they made the 
poor eighty-first brother walk behind 
them, and carry the bag, just as if 
he had been their servant, although 
he was their own brother, and as 
much a Prince as any of them all. 



Brand by, the eighty Princes 
came to Cape Keta, and there they 
found a poor hare, with all his fur 
plucked out, lying down very sick 
and miserable. The eighty Princes 
said to the hare, 

"We wili tell you what you 
should do. 




Go and bathe in the sea water, and 
then lie down 




on the slope of a high mountain, 
and let the wind blow upon you. 
That will soon make your fur grow, 
we promise you." 

So the poor hare believed them, 



and went and bathed in the sea, and 
afterwards lay down in the sun and 
the wind to dry. But, as the salt 
water dried, the skin of his body all 
cracked and split with the sun and 
the wind, so that he was in terrible 
pain, and lay there crying, in a much 
worse state than he was before. 

Now the eighty-first brother was 
a long way behind the others, 
because he had the luggage to 
carry, but at last he came up, 
staggering under the weight of the 
heavy bag. When he saw the hare 
he asked, 



" Why are you 
lying there crying?" 
14 Oh dear!" said 
the hare, 




w just stop a moment and I will tell 
you all my story. I was in the 
island of Oki, and I wanted to cross 
over to this land. I didn't know 
how to get over, but at last I hit 
upon a plan. I said to the sea 
crocodiles, 




" Let us count how many croco- 
diles there are in the sea, and how 
many hares there are in the land. 
And now to begin with the croco- 
diles. Come, every one of you, and 
lie down in a row, across from this 
island to Cape Keta, then I will 
step upon each one, and count you 
as I run across. When I have 
finished counting you, we ca-n 
count the hares, and then we shall 
know whether there are most hares, 
or most crocodiles. " 

The crocodiles came and lay 
down in a row. Then I stepped on 



them and counted them as I ran 
across, and was just going to jump 
on shore, when I laughed and said, 
"Yon silly crocodiles, I don't care 
how many of you there are. I only 
wanted a bridge to get across by/'' 
Oh! why did I boast until I was 
safe on dry land? For the lust 
crocodile, the one which lay at the 
very end of the row, seized me, am 




plucked off all my fur " 
"And serve you right too, for being so 
tricky," said the eighty-first brother; 
however, go on with your story/' 
"As I was lying here crying," 




continued the hare, "the eighty Prin- 
ces who went by before you, told me 
to bathe in salt water, and lie down in 
the wind. I did as they told me, but 
I am ten times worse than before, and 
my whole body is smarting and sore." 
Then the eighty-first brother said 
to the hare, " Go quickly now to 
the river, it is quite near. Wash 
yourself well with the fresh water, 
then take the pollen of the sedges 
growing on the river bank, spread 
it about on the ground, and roll 
among it ; if you do this, your skin 
will heal } and your fur grow again. 1 ' 



So the hare 
did as he 
was told; 




and this time he was quite cured, 
and his fur grew thicker than ever. 
Then the hare said to the eighty- 
first brother, "As for those eighty 
Princes, your brothers, 
they shall not get 
the Princess 
of Inaba. 
Although you 
carry 
> 
the 




?>7 et 
Highness shall at last get 

both the princess and the country." 



Which things came to pass, for the 
Princess would have nothing to 
do with those eighty bad brothers, 
but chose the eighty-first who was 
kind and good. Then he was 
made King of the country, and 
lived happily 
all his 
life.